The figure represents a 10% hike on the 102,315 jobs
that were put on the butcher block in March, and the 16th
time in 17 months that job cuts have exceeded 100,000,
according to data from Challenger, Gray &
Christmas.

The telecommunications sector has downsized the most,
both on a monthly and on an annual basis. In April a third
of the positions eliminated were from this sector, which
slashed some 38,176 jobs over the month, 75% higher than
the cuts it made in March.

Over the month, hefty cuts were also made in:

the automotive sector, which took the scissors to
some 13,297 jobs

the services sector, which hemorrhaged 10,776

the financial sector, which slashed 8,648.

Still, the latest monthly figures are 32% lower than the
165,564 job cuts announced in April 2001, though
significantly higher than their level in 2000, when the
unemployment rate was flirting with historical lows,
according to the outplacement firm.

Year-to-Date

Through the first four months of this year, some 555,783
job cuts have been announced, just 3%, or 16,587 fewer than
the 572,370 job cuts announced over the same period in
2001.

According to Challenger’s data, the four-month average
in 2002 at around 140,000 is more than five times greater
than the monthly average recorded during the height of the
recession in the early 1990s, which was just under
26,000.

The struggling telecommunications industry has announced
120,698, or 22% of all job-cut announcements in
2002.